


When Love Explodes

by neverwantedtodance



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Mild Sexual Content, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Resolved Sexual Tension, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1931844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverwantedtodance/pseuds/neverwantedtodance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And we will be consumed when love explodes ..."</p>
<p>She never gave a straight answer and he expected more. She walked away and didn't look back. He said her name like it was the only thing he could say.</p>
<p>Steve, Natasha, and figuring out what they do now.</p>
<p>(Set post-CATWS. Romanogers, obviously.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a reference to the beautiful song 'When Love Explodes' from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

She stared at him from above, and the moonlight illuminated her red hair. It was fanning around her face like an angel's halo. 

 

He could just make out her shape in the darkness, the distinct curves of her form and the outline of her naked body. Her green eyes glowed and Steve realised the air was heavy with sweat, giving the atmosphere a dream-like quality of tension. He'd never had dreams like this though, and that's how he knew he was awake - that and the steady beat of their heartbeats, slightly out of time. He knew that meant something, but he didn't want to care.

 

She was staring at him.

 

Steve traced a finger down her bare chest, her body slick with sweat. She sighed into his touch.

 

"What do you want from me?" he murmured, not intending for her to hear. But, of course, she did. She always listened to him, and so in return he always heard her even when no one else did.

 

"Everything," Natasha said, and their lips collided once again. The problem had been resolved, but now Steve felt an entirely different kind of weight on his shoulders.

 

It wasn't a straight answer. She never gave them. Steve didn't know what he had been expecting, only it was more than this.


	2. Coffee Shop Soundtrack

"Come get coffee with me," Steve said. Like an idiot, she agreed.

* * *

 

They spent half an hour staring at each other over cups of coffee going lukewarm that neither of them were going to drink. The steam from the hot drink rose up and masked Steve's face, and it was like she was looking at him through cracked glass, fractured and afraid.

 

But Natasha Romanoff did not get scared. If she allowed herself to get scared, there was no telling what she'd do.

 

If she got scared, some dangerous things might happen. She didn't want to think about them, but the thoughts pushed right to the front of her head, uncontrollable.

 

_Love_.

* * *

 

By the time he had begun to say her name, she had already left, not there to hear the way Steve said her name - as if her name was the only one he could say.

 

He watched her leave. She didn't look back.

 

Steve had been expecting more as always. Maybe it was time to lower his expectations.

 

He knew though, if he did, Natasha Romanoff would continue to raise them again, higher and higher until they touched the sky, until she brought them crashing down again in a flurry of dust, debris and broken promises that were never actually made.

 

That was the beautiful part.


End file.
